Rejects

Chapter Nine - I'll Kiss Your Lips Again

Before things could escalate Frank pulled away. I stared at him in complete and utter shock. What the fuck just happened? Did I imagine that? No...that can't be it. Did Frank Iero actually just kiss me? Holy shit...wow okay.

Suddenly Frank seemed to snap back into reality because he gasped and immediately started apologizing. "OhmygodI'msosorryIdidn'tmeantoIjustgotcaughtupinthemomentandonethingledtoanotherandwewerebothstandinghereandyoulookedatmeandIdidn'tmeanforittohappenI'msoosorrypleaseforgivemeohgodwhathaveIdon-"

I kissed him again, just to shut him up. He kissed back, and we stayed like that for a few seconds. I guess you could say sparks flew around us, except that they didn't. But that's just me being literal. It was actually amazing. I never thought I was gay, but...this really changes things. A lot of things. Majorly. Because I never would have thought I would like boys, I honestly never thought I'd really like anyone, yet here I am, kissing a boy in a dark alley behind a movie theater.

This time I pulled away first and said quietly, "There, now you don't have to apologize." Frank stood there, just as dumbstruck as I was a few moments ago. Hell, I'm still dumbstruck now. None of this seemed real, yet at the same time it felt like the most real thing I'd ever experienced.

Frank let out a long string of stuttering noises, none of which he ever managed to form into actual words.

"I never thought my first kiss would be to a boy," I muttered, slightly to myself. I guess no male ever thinks their first kiss would be to a boy when they're 17 years old, but I guess that's just another thing to add to the list of reasons why I'm not normal and never will be.

"D-did you l-l-like it?" Frank managed to sputter out. I opened my mouth, closed it, then opened it again. Finally finding the right words I said, "More than you might expect."

Frank did one of those breathy, half laughs and looked down, smiling. "Thank god." I did the same and replied, "Yeah."

Our verbal responses to each other may have been short, but that was okay. They needed to be. Besides, we got all the emotion we needed from facial expressions and body movements. The way Frank fidgeted nervously with his fingers, or how I kept subconsciously running my hand through my hair, pretending it was to get it out of my eyes.

It was late afternoon, on a cool fall day, and just outside this alley the world was still spinning, people were still living, birds were still hunting, cats were still sleeping, dogs were still barking, kids were still screeching, the sun was still shining. But inside this alley it was cold and dark, everything was dead and gloomy, and the sun didn't seem to shine through despite the fact that the sky was open above us. Inside this dead, damp, dark alley, the world had stopped spinning, time had stopped progressing, and everything else stopped mattering. I may be magical, but not as magical as the light metaphorically emanating off of Frank and I after sharing two kisses, my first two kisses, but come to think of it I wouldn't want to share them with anyone else.

We both stared at each other for a few moments more before the world, sadly, started spinning again. Sun shone through again. Time started progressing again, and all those outside forces started mattering again.

For those few moments, I was able to fly (something even my powers don't allow me to do), but now gravity had returned and my feet were firmly locked on the ground once again.

"You should probably get back to your house," Frank said quietly, "I don't wanna get Mikey mad at you."

"He won't be mad," I countered, "But you are right."

I didn't realize how close we were to each other until we stepped away. I hadn't even realized that our hands hand locked and our faced were only inches apart, our noses touching, until the grasp was broken and we were breathing our own oxygen.

Slowly, we left the alley. No one that passed paid us any mind, which I was thankful for. Frank walked all the way back to my house with me, and when we reached my driveway I asked, "Wanna come inside?" But he shook his head. "I should really be getting back to my own home." My heart dropped a little bit, but I understood and therefore didn't push any further.

"Alright, well I'll see you at school tomorrow then, I guess."

"Yeah, see you at school tomorrow."

I turned to go inside my home, and he turned to leave for his. I opened the door and stepped inside, he disappeared from my driveway. I closed the door behind me, he was already halfway down the street.

I turned around, ready to go up to me and Mikey's room and let him know I was home, but he was already standing in front of me. Oh god, why is he so tall and intimidating, despite his nerdy glasses? Wait, is that my phone in his hand? He looks kinda angry...I sense a confrontation.

"Where the hell have you been?" He asked. It was clear he was trying to hold back some of the anger in his tone, however he did a very poor job hiding it.

"I-I was with Frank-"

"Yeah, I figured that much out. Why were you in such a rush when you left? Why were you gone for so long?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry you, it's just that we were going to see a movie and I only had thirty minutes to get ready and by the time I was ready to leave I only had ten minutes to get there so I had to be really quick so I didn't have time to explain and I though I took my phone with my but I accidentally forgot it but I didn't mean to I'm sorry for worrying you I'll try not to do it again so please don't be angry."

Considering Mikey is my younger brother, he sure can scare the crap out of me under the right circumstances. Confrontations are not something I enjoy! I guess Mikey saw how I was cowering away in fear because he sighed and slumped over a little bit, no longer appearing as tall.

He handed me my phone, and I scrolled through it. Three texts and two missed calls, all of which from him.

Text 1: Gee? Mind explaining to me wth just happened?

Text 2: Gee? Why are you not responding?

Text 3: Good job, dickbag. You left your phone here

"S-sorry...but Mikey! You'll never believe what happened after the movie!" My brother visibly paled. "Oh god, what happened? What'd you do? Or what'd he do? What went wrong just tell me what went wrong."

I laughed and replied, "No, Mikey, nothing went wrong, surprisingly. The movie was actually really fun and after it...after it..."

I debated whether or not I should even tell him. Did I want Mikey to know I kissed Frank? Did Frank want Mikey to know he kissed me? Would Mikey be okay with this, or would he go back crap crazy? But we've never kept anything from each other, and even if I don't tell him now, he'll find out eventually so I guess it's better to just get it over with.

"Just tell me, Gee. What happened?"

Oh yeah, I didn't realize how long I was taking to answer. Sorry Mikey. Wait, shit, you can't hear me.

"Frank and I kissed..." I uttered under my breath. It was just above a whisper, a noise barely audible yet holding so much meaning.

"Wait, what? Speak up, I can't hear you."

Aaaaaannd the tension is gone. Good job being deaf baby brother. "Frank and I kissed." I repeated, no more confident yet forcing myself to appear more final about the topic.

Mikey looked taken aback, and I immediately shrunk again, any fake layer of strength shredded apart and tossed aside. For eight agonizingly long seconds the two of us stood facing each other in complete and utter silence. For the entirety of those eight seconds I wished for nothing more than a gun to shoot myself with so I wouldn't have to endure what would inevitably come when one of us learned how to speak again.

Then the one person I shared my childhood with, the one that grew up by my side and I by theirs, spoke a single sentence that, in another context could be considered filled with love, but in this light held only resentment and cold, raw, anger: "I'm never letting you out of my sight again."